African Inventor of the Month – Arthur Zang

Arthur Zang is a Cameroonian computer engineer who invented the Cardiopad. He received the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation from The Royal Academy of Engineering for his innovation.

Early Life

Arthur Zang was born in Mbankomo Cameroon on 26th November, 1987. He graduated with a degree in Computer Science from École Nationale Supérieure Polytechnique, Yaounde, in 2010. He pursued a Master’s Degree at the same institution two years later.

The Cardiopad

The Cardiopad is a tablet computer that takes readings from a patient and sends it to a heart surgeon not onsite. Due to the few number of cardiologists in his country, the Cardiopad meant more patients could be monitored by a local health practitioner. It allows local medical officers to conduct heart examinations like the popular electrocardiogram, or ECG as it is popularly known.

The readings on the device are sent over mobile network to cardiologists for analysis. Readings sent via the Cardiopad can be interpreted and anlysed within 20 minutes of the health worker sending the data. This invention means more people in rural communities and underserved regions will have access to heart examinations at a reasonable cost. It is estimated that there are currently 50 cardiologists for a population of approximately 20 million.

The Cardiopad is simple to operate, and works much like an electrocardiograph. Electrodes are connected to the patient being diagnosed and then connected to a module. This module is then connected to the tablet. In less than half an hour, the readings are sent over a mobile network to a specialist normally located miles away from the health post. The cardiologist is then able to perform computer-assisted diagnosis with a reliability score of up to 95.7%.

In developing the prototype, Arthur Zang first posted his project on Facebook. Eventually, he received funding worth $20,000 from the Cameroonian government which he used to produce 20 tablets.

While developing the device, his own uncle who was suffering from stroke suddenly died. The loss, Mr Zang said in a BBC interview, pushed him to complete the Cardiopad. The Cardiopad was “the first fully touch screen medical tablet made in Cameroon and in Africa,” he said in 2012 after its invention.

To make it truly accessible, Mr Zang’s inventions were distributed free of charge to hospitals and clinics in Cameroon. To use it, however, patients required a yearly subscription of $29.

Himore Medical Equipments

After inventing the Cardiopad, Marc Arthur Zang established the Himore Medical Equipments in 2014. The aim was to be able to scale the Cardiopad project to meet the rising demand. As the CEO and Chief Engineer in Biomedical Engineering Project at Himore, Mr Zang is pioneering the development of low-cost medical devices to support the delivery of telemedicine. Some of their products include electrodes used in electrocardiography (ECG), ECG cables, and an ECG Bluetooth Sensor Box which transmits heart signals to a Cardiopad.

Awards

For his invention, Mr Zang was awarded the 2015/2016 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation by the Royal Academy of Engineering at an event held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He received $37,000 in prize money.

In 2011, he was a semifinalist in Microsoft’s student technology competition, Imagine Cup. A year later, he was awarded with medical innovation awards by the Cameroonian Association of Engineers and Computer Scientists, known in Germany as VKII.

Arthur Zang was also awarded Young Laureate under the Rolex Awards for Enterprise programme in 2014. The award celebrates exceptional individuals who take on challenges and initiate extraordinary projects that can make the world a better place.